Decision on NHPC stake sale deferred

The government, on Thursday, deferred a decision on 11.36 per cent stake sale plan in NHPC.

The proposed stake sale would fetch about Rs.1,850 crore to the exchequer at current market prices. “The decision on NHPC stake sale has been deferred,” a source said after the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The source said there were differences between the Power Ministry and the Disinvestment Department over the stake sale in NHPC. The Power Ministry wanted the stake sale to happen only when market conditions improved.

The government had selected three merchant bankers — Credit Suisse, HSBC and SBI Cap — for managing NHPC stake sale.

The paid—up equity capital of the company, as of March 31, 2012, was Rs 12,300.74 crore.